State Wins Land Case

A Superior Court judge has sided with the state in the case of an elderly Eastford woman who granted the state development rights to her farm as a means of preserving it for agricultural use.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the woman's relatives filed an earlier will in probate court in which the property was left entirely to them.

Mamie Nahibowitz lived most of her life on a 127-acre farm at 96 Westford Road and, in 1973, drew up a will that left the property to her nephew, Anton Faford of Norfolk, Mass., a niece and other relatives, Blumenthal said. In 1993, however, she revised her will to donate the development rights to her property to the state, he said.

``Her nephew cruelly and callously attempted to thwart his late aunt's desires by filing an invalid will,'' Blumenthal said in a statement released Monday. ``The court rightly rejected the invalid document, restoring Mamie's wishes and safeguarding the survival of a small, but significant piece of Connecticut's rural heritage.''

Nahibowitz, 87, died in 1998 and Blumenthal's office filed suit to contest the earlier will.

Faford said his family never intended to develop the property and has appealed the decision to Appellate Court.

``There was never any intention to develop it,'' Faford said Monday. ``From the time that my aunt passed away, the property was never put up for sale or been marked for development.

``We had no intention of doing anything with it,'' said Faford, who works as a lease consultant for shopping center tenants.

Faford's attorney, John Harris, said the appeal was filed Monday.

Agriculture Commissioner Bruce Greszcyk said he was pleased that Nahibowitz' wishes were respected.

``[She] generously sought to keep her land in agriculture after she was gone,'' said Greszcyk. ``This decision fulfills her desire and leaves a lasting legacy to her hometown and the state.''